Continued....
-------------------------------
I'm speechless. Judge for yourselves.
Material within { } is from Jewish talmud and for clarification

Qur'an, sura 2:259:
"Or hast thou not heard of the like of him who passed by a town {Jerusalem} which had fallen down upon its roofs {destruction of 1st temple} and exclaimed, `When will ALLAH restore it to life after its destruction?' Then ALLAH caused him to die for a hundred years, then HE raised him and said, `How long hast thou remained in this state?' He answered, `I have remained a day {what seemed like a night sleep} or part of a day.' ALLAH said, `It is so but thou hast also remained in this state for a hundred years. Now look at thy food and thy drink; they have not rotted {dates and water} and look at thy ass. And WE have done this that WE may make thee a Sign unto men. And look at the bones,{soreness} how WE set them and then clothe them with flesh.' And when this became clear to him, he said, `I know that ALLAH has the power to do all that HE wills.'"

Talmud, Jewish Fables, 100-200AD, prepared as children's stories, "The sleep of One Hundred Years", excerpts:
"(Rabbi) Onias passed sorrowfully on and at the top of the hill he stopped. Before him lay Jerusalem, not the once beautiful city with its hundreds of domes and minarets that caught the first rays of the sun each morning, but a vast heap of ruins and charred buildings. Onias threw himself on the ground and wept bitterly. No human being could he see, and the sun was setting over what looked like a city of the dead.
"Woe, woe," he cried. "Zion, my beautiful Zion, is no more. Can it ever rise again? Not in a hundred years can its glory be renewed."
The sun sank lower as he continued to gaze upon the ruined city, and darkness gathered over the scene. Utterly exhausted, Onias, laying his head upon his camel on the ground, fell into a deep sleep. ...
And thus a hundred years rolled by.
Suddenly, Onias moved, stretched himself and yawned. He was awake again. He looked around confused.
"Strange," he muttered. "Did I not fall asleep on a hill overlooking Jerusalem last night? How comes it now that I am hemmed in by a thicket and am lying in the shade of this noble date palm?"
With great difficulty he rose to his feet.
"Oh, how my bones do ache!" he cried. "I must have overslept myself. ...
Taking the dates and the bottle of water which still remained fresh, he made his way to where he had slept for a hundred years, and there his prayer for peace was answered."

Conclusion: This Jewish fairytale was written for children. In the qur'an version, the muslim 'allah' put itself into the narrative and claims it to be historical. The muslim version has Onias speaking with god but in the Jewish version, he does not.
----------------------------------------
The Lost Books of the Bible, (LBB), is a group of apocryphal material that was deemed unfit to incorporate into the Bible. In the LBB, I came across some fables that made their way into the qur'an. How this material ever came to be believed as historical (in the qur'an) is beyond me.

In both LBB and qur'an, Mary (mother of Jesus) is fed by angels and is cared for by Zacharias. (neither point is found biblically).

LBB, Protevangelion, VIII.1-4
"AND her parents {Joachim and Anna} went away filled with wonder, and praising God, because the girl did not return back to them.
But Mary continued in the temple as a dove educated there, and received her food from the hand of an angel.
And when she was twelve years of age, the priests met in a council, and said, Behold, Mary is twelve years of age; what shall we do with her, for fear lest the holy place of the Lord our God should be defiled?
Then replied the priests to Zacharias the high-priest, Do you stand at the altar of the Lord, and enter into the holy place, and make petitions concerning her, and whatsoever the Lord shall manifest unto you, that do."

Sura 3.37
"Her Lord accepted her {Mary} a gracious acceptance, and brought her up a gracious upbringing, under the guardianship of Zachariah. Whenever Zachariah entered her sanctuary he found provisions with her. He would ask, "Mary, where did you get this from?" She would say, "It is from GOD. GOD provides for whomever He chooses, without limits."

We just established a non-controversial link between LBB and qur'an. LBB was written 100 to 200 AD and qur'an was compiled much later. Now for the errors.

Error: LBB calls Mary's parents, Joachim and Anna. Qur'an however names her parents as Amram (imram in arabic) and Anna. There is no philological connection between Joachim and Imram. Islamic scholars that say these two names are the same are just kidding themselves.

LBB, Birth of Mary, I.2 "Her father's name was Joachim, and her mother's Anna. The family of her father was of Galilee and the city of Nazareth. The family of her mother was of Bethlehem."

Sura 3.35 "Remember when a woman of Imran said, `My Lord, ....."

Another error: Islam calls Gabriel an angel that is also considered the holy spirit. But we see the angel here clearly saying he is not a spirit.

LBB, Birth of Mary, III.1-2
"AFTERWARDS the angel appeared to Anna his wife saying: Fear not, neither think that which you see is a spirit. For I am that angel who hath offered up your prayers and alms before God, and am now sent to you, that I may inform you, that a daughter will be born unto you, who shall be called Mary, and shall be blessed above all women."

Another error: Both qur'an and LBB have Jesus speaking at infancy. The difference seen in the qur'an version is due to muhammad's need to incorporate the Zakat on innocent peoples and to do away with the concept of salvation. At the time of writing sura 19, muhammad was already having problems with the christians and seems to put words into Jesus' mouth. He does not want rebellious christians. The words of Jesus in the qur'an are not those of LBB.

LBB, Infancy of Jesus, I.2-3
"He relates, that Jesus spake even when he was in the cradle, and said to his mother: Mary, I am Jesus the Son of God, that word which thou didst bring forth according to the declaration of the angel Gabriel to thee, and my father hath sent me for the salvation of the world."

Sura 19.29-32
She pointed to him. They said, "How can we talk with an infant in the crib?"
"(The infant {Jesus} spoke and) said, "I am a servant of GOD. He has given me the scripture, and has appointed me a prophet. "He made me blessed wherever I go, and enjoined me to observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and the obligatory charity (Zakat) for as long as I live. "I am to honor my mother; He did not make me a disobedient rebel."

Another error: This one has been found by others. In sura 66.12, Mary is the same mother of Jesus but muhammad calls her Amramite. In the qur'an, Mary the mother of Jesus, is called the daughter of Amram and the sister of Aaron. This cannot be since Mary descended from Judah and not from the tribe of Levi. Nor did she live 1000 years before when Moses walked the earth. The qur'an or "allah" mixed up Mary with Miriam, Moses' sister and daughter of Amram.

Sura 66.12
"Also Mary, the Amramite. She maintained her chastity, then we blew into her from our spirit. She believed in the words of her Lord and His scriptures; she was obedient. "

Another error: Using sura 66.12, we see that Mary is considered a virgin. In islam, Mary is a virgin before and after the birth of Jesus.
---------------------------------------
For clarification: The use of cousin is improperly applied in the King James version. The actual word is in greek:

συγγενίς , Strongs 4773 lists it as:

1) of the same kin, akin to, related by blood
2) in a wider sense, of the same nation, a fellow countryman

So yes they are related... thru Jacob. Elizabeth and Zechariah are of the tribe of Levi, descendents of Imran and Aaron. That is why Zechariah is a priest! Only Levites served as priests in the temple. No one else.

Mary and Joseph are of the tribe of Judah. They are not permitted to serve as priests.

If Mary and Joseph were Levi, they would be shown serving in some priestly service and certainly the Lord would have been called Priest! But he is never called Priest!

So yes Mary and Elizabeth are related by belonging to the same nation of Israel. No, Mary is NOT a daughter of Imran because she was not a Levite. Keep in mind also, that israelites tended to wed within their own clans. ie, Judah male with Judah female.